Heel attaching machines



18, 1964 A. J. GILBRIDE 3,144,656

HEEI.. ATTACHING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 8, 1962 Invenfor A16 il bride By hz'sAztorney Aug. 18, 1964 A. J. GILBRIDE 3,144,656

HEEL ATTACHING MACHINES Filed Feb. 8, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Aug. 18, 1964 A. J. GILBRIDE HEEL ATTACHING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 8, 1962 Aug. 18, 1964 A. J. GILBRIDE HEEL ATTACHING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Feb. 8, 1962 0 118 I A w m/ ml 2 x. I 5 F T o 9. M

United States Patent 3,144,656 HEEL ATTACHING MACHINES Andrew .I. Giibride, Swampscott, Mass, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Boston, Mass., a

corporation of New Jersey Filed Feb. 8, 1962, Ser. No. 172,018 8 Claims. (Cl. 1-338) This invention relates to nailing dies for use in fastening inserting machines and is illustrated as embodied in a heel attaching machine of the type disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 3,072,913, granted January 15, 1963, on an application filed in the names of Paul E. Morgan et al.

A nailing die of the type disclosed in said Patent 3,072,913 is expensive to build and to modify. It is an object of the present invention to provide in a machine of the general type disclosed in said Patent No. 3,072,913, a nailing die which is quick and effective in its operation and is relatively inexpensive to build and which may be readily modified to satisfy certain non-conventional specifications without entailing any substantial expense.

With the above object in view and in accordance with a feature of the invention, there is provided in a fastener inserting machine, a nailing die comprising a plurality of nail driver guides, means for effecting relative movement of said guides to cause them to form different nailing patterns, and means for moving said guides as a unit into different operating positions.

The present invention consists in the above feature and in novel features hereinafter described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings which illustrate one embodiment of the invention selected for purposes of illustration, said invention being fully disclosed in the following description and claims.

In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a front view of a portion of the abovernentioned heel attaching machine which is disclosed in said Patent No. 3,072,913 and has an illustrative nailing die incorporated therein;

FIG. 2 is a view showing partly in section and partly in side elevation a jack of the machine cooperating with the nailing die in the clamping together of a shoe and a heel preparatory to attaching said heel to the shoe;

FIG. 3 is a view, partly in section, showing in perspective the rear end of the shoe to which the heel has been attached;

FIG. 4 is a view on the line IV-IV of FIG. 2 showing a geometrically graded last, a heel plate of said last and a portion of a jack cooperating with said plate of the last to orient the last upon a spindle of the jack;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view similar to a portion of FIG. 1 and showing details of the construction of the nailing die;

FIG. 6 is a view showing details of mechanism for operatively connecting a nail driver holder or stripper plate to a gun of the illustrative machine;

FIG. 7 is a section partly on the line VIIVII of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a view on the line VIII-VIII of FIG. 5 showing details of the nailing die and of mechanism for varying nail patterns of said die;

FIG. 9 is a section on the line IXIX of FIG. 8 showing details of a rear nail driver guide or nail tube forming part of the nailing die; and

FIG. 10 is a template having a plurality of holes representing a plurality of composite nail patterns used in the attachment of rubber heels to a complete run of sizes of mens shoes.

An illustrative multipart nailing die 20 is described as embodied in the machine which is disclosed in said Patent No. 3,072,913 and is adapted to attach composite heels 3,144,656 Patented Aug. 18, 1964 ICC 22 (FIGS. 1 and 3), each comprising a rubber lift 22a and a base lift 22b,.to heel seats 24 (FIG. 3) of shoes 26, said machine comprising a jack 28 (FIGS. 1 and 2) for supporting upside down a geometrically graded last 30 bearing a shoe, the multipart nailing die 20, nail drivers 32 movable respectively in passages 34 (FIGS. 5, 8 and 9) of a rear nail driver guide or nail tube 36 and back, central and front pairs of side nail driver guides or nail tubes 36a, 36b and 36c of the die, a driver operating gun 38 having secured to it a carrier block 40 which may be considered part of the gun and is slidable on vertical rods 42 fixed to a main frame 44 of the machine, and a heel carrier unit 46 adapted automatically to position the composite heel in a predetermined position below the nailing die and above the jack.

The jack 28 of the machine comprises a spindle 48 (FIGS. 2 and 4) adapted to be received in a thimble hole 50 of the geometrically graded last 30 and upstanding lugs 52 which cooperate with shoulders 54 (FIG. 4) of a heel positioning plate 56 of the last to orient the last upon the spindle with the central heightwise plane of the heel seat of the last, and accordingly of the shoe, arranged in a fixed vertical reference plane 58 (FIGS. 1 and 8) of the machine. The jack 28 is movable only vertically or lengthwise of a vertical axis 60 of its spindle 48 whereby to force the heel seat 24 of the shoe positioned on the jack against the composite heel 22, which has been moved by the heel carrier unit 46 to a predetermined waiting position beneath the nailing die 20, and thereafter to force the heel against the bottom faces of the nail driver guides or nail tubes 36, 36a, 36b and 360. The spindle 48 of the jack 28 has no substantial movement on the jack. As explained in detail in said Patent No. 3,072,913, the rubber lift 22a is positioned by the heel carrier unit 46 above the heel seat of the shoe mounted upon the jack with a heightwise median plane 63 thereof arranged in the vertical reference plane 58 of the machine and a vertical axis of symmetry of the rubber lift arranged parallel to and a fixed distance rearwardly of the axis 60 of the spindle irrespective of the size of the rubber lift.

It will be noted that the jack 28 is different from the jacks (not shown) of conventional outside nailers in which the position of the shoe is controlled by the operator with the assistance of an initially adjustable back gage (not shown), the spindle of said conventional jack being movable on a post of the jack widthwise and lengthwise of the shoe, which is positioned by eye approximately in its proper position on the spindle, in order to allow the operator manually to position the shoe in its final operating position by the use of the above-mentioned back gage.

The rubber heel lift 22a commonly has formed in it a rear hole 62 (FIG. 3) lying in the heightwise median plane 63, back side nail holes 62a, central side nail holes 6217 and front side nail holes 620 as well as a front center nail hole 62d, a portion of each of said nail holes being formed partly by a passage 64 in a frusto-conical washer 66 embedded in the rubber lift. Nails 68, which serve to attach the composite heel 22 to the heel seat 24 of the shoe 26, are driven into the various nail holes with their pointed ends clenched against a heel plate 70 which forms a heel seat of the last. Although the rubber heel lift 22a is provided with the front center nail hole 62d it will be noted that it is not the general practice to drive a nail 62 into this hole.

In conventional heel attaching and heel seat nailing machines it is old initially to vary the operating positions of side nail driver guides or nail tubes of a nailing die with relation to a fixed rear nail driver guide or nail tube of said die, such adjustments being relatively simple U in view of the fact that the rear nail driver guide or nail tube is always fixed.

It will be noted at this point that for mens work, for example, fourteen rubber lifts 22a of graduated sizes are used to accommodate a full run of thirty-six sizes of shoes, that is one heel of a given size will be used with one or more graduated sizes of shoes. It will also be noted that the fourteen rubber heel lifts of different sizes are accommodated by eight different nail designs, the rear nail hole 62 of each of said rubber lifts being spaced a substantially constant distance from the rear end of the lift. In view of the foregoing it will be apparent that the holes 62, 62a, 62b and 620 of rubber lifts 22a of eight different sizes arranged in the heel carrier unit 46 above the jack 28 will be arranged different distances from the axis 60 of the spindle 48, the larger the graduated group of sizes the greater being the distance between the axis 60 of the spindle and the axes respectively of the nail holes of the rubber lift. Accordingly in heel attaching machines in which the spindle is moved only lengthwise of the axis of its jack spindle, that is, vertically as above described, it will be appreciated that all the nail holes will move further away from the axis of the spindle as the rubber lift increases in size. To adjust all of the nail driver guides or nail tubes so that the lower ends of their passages 34 will be arranged just above the nail holes of the particular rubber lift being used, as above stated, requires a rather complicated and expensive arrangement of cams as exemplified in the nailing die disclosed in the above-identified Patent No. 3,072,913.

It is common practice to use in place of rubber heel lifts 22a rubber lifts (not shown) each of which has embedded in it a wood block. In such a heel lift construction the holes and washers such as above referred to are omitted but nevertheless it is customary to adhere as closely as possible to the conventional nailing patterns for the various shoes of different sizes or groups of sizes of a run of shoes. Some manufacturers using wood core rubber heel lifts, however, prefer slightly to modify the conventional nailing patterns of the shoes of different sizes. It will be apparent that to change, for example, the closed cam shown in the nailing die of the above noted Patent No. 3,072,913 in order to move the nail driver guides or nail tubes of said die into predetermined positions in accordance with the customers personal requirements, requires considerable expense.

The patterns or designs of the nails 68 used in the attachment of rubber heel lifts 22a to shoes 26 are generally standard for heels of graduated groups of sizes respectively, the patterns of a complete run of sizes being collectively illustrated by the use of holes formed in a standard template 71 which is in common use and is illustrated in FIG. 10. The template 71 has a heightwise median plane 69 corresponding to the heightwise median plane 63 of a rubber heel lift 22a and has a reference hole R which lies in the plane 69 and represents the rear nail hole 62 of the rubber heel lift 22a as well as the nail driven into said hole. As above explained the hole 62 of the rubber lift 22a arranged in the heel carrier 46 above the shoe on the jack 28 lies in the heightwise median plane 63 of the rubber heel lift 22 and the distance of this hole as well as the distances of the holes 62a, 62b and 620 from the axis 60 of the spindle 48 of the jack 28 increases as the size of nail groupings of the heel lifts 22a increases. Referring to template 71, the hole R represents the nail hole 62 formed in rubber heel lifts of all sizes. The template 71 also has formed in it opposite rows of holes A, A and A which represent the nail hole 62a of the different groups of heel lifts 22a of a full run of lifts. In like manner pairs of holes B, B B B and holes C, C C C and C of the template 71 represent the holes 62b and 620 respectively of different groups of lifts 22a used in a full run of lifts.

In order to accommodate shoes of sizes 4D to 13B, for

example, which sizes represent practically all of the shoes made, six different standard nail hole designs are formed in rubber heel lifts of twelve different sizes. These nail hole designs which include the hole R and different combinations of holes A or A holes B, B or B and holes C, C C C and C may be quickly and effectively established by initially setting, through the use of mechanism hereinafter described, the nail driver guides or nail tubes 36a, 36b and 360 in six different predetermined positions with relation to the driver guide 36, all of said nail driver guides being thereafter moved as a unit lengthwise of the shoe to their proper operating positions.

With the foregoing considerations in view applicant has secured to the main frame 44 of the machine a table 72 (FIGS. 1, 5, and 8) provided with a U-shaped opening 73 and having formed in it a guide, guide means or undercut rectilinear guideways 74 which may be collectiveIy referred to as a guideway and are spaced equal distances from the vertical central reference plane 58 of the machine, and movable in the guideways is a slide or carrier 76 having formed in it a central clearance opening 78. Secured by screws to the slide 76 is a bracket 82 having formed integral with it the rear nail driver guide or nail tube 36. The back side nail driver guides or nail tubes 36:: are formed integral with arms 75 which bear against a flat upper surface of the slide 76 and are journaled on shoulder screws 77 threaded into the slide 76. Each of the back side nail driver guides 36a may be set in different operating positions, represented by the holes A and A in the template 71, by the use of headed studs 79 which are adapted to fit either in a pair of bores 81, 83 formed respectively in the arm 75 and the slide 76 or in a pair of bores 85, 87 formed respectively in said arm and said slide.

Secured to the slide 76 is a block 84 having formed in it a slot 86 in which fits a roll 88 carried by an eccentric shoulder screw 90 secured by a nut 92 to a bell crank lever 94 which bears on the table 72 and is journaled on a shoulder screw 96 secured to said table. A forward arm of the lever 94 carries slidingly a spring-pressed plunger .98 adapted selectively to engage in any one of a plurality of recesses 180 formed in a projecting lug 72a secured to the table 72. It will thus be apparent that the position of the slide 76 lengthwise of the guideways 74 will depend upon the recess 100 in which the springpressed plunger 98 of the bell crank lever 94 is inserted, said lever being initially set with its rear nail driver guide or nail tube 36 in the proper position to accommodate the work on hand.

In order to accommodate the shoes or groups of shoes of graduated sizes of a run of sizes 4D to 13B for example the back, center and front pairs of side nail driver guides or nail tubes 36a, 36b and 36c are swung with relation to the rear nail tube 36 along fairly fiat arcs respectively toward and away from the reference plane 58 of the machine, said center and front pairs of side nail driver guides or nail tubes 36b, 366 being formed integral with the inner ends of arms 102, 104 respectively of bell crank levers 106, 108 which bear on the upper flat face of the slide 76 and are journaled on shoulder screws 110, 112 secured to said slide.

Threaded into the slide 76 is a shouldered bearing screw 114 which has a vertical axis lying in the reference plane 58 of the machine and has journaled on it a hub 116 formed integral with upper and lower open cams 118 and 120. The hub 116 is held in its operating position on the bearing screw 114 and on the slide 76 by a snap ring 117. The bell crank levers 108 have rear arms upon the outer ends of which are pivotally mounted rolls 122 which are constantly held in forced engagement with a peripheral face of the upper cam 118 by a spring 124 opposite ends of which are attached to lugs 126 respectively secured to said rear arms. In like manner the outer ends of rear arms of the bell crank levers 106 have pivotally mounted on them rolls 128 which are constantly held in engagement with the peripheral face of the lower cam 120 by a spring 130 having its opposite ends attached respectively to lugs 132 secured to the levers. The cam 118 has formed in its periphery six pairs of oppositely arranged cavities 118a which, upon rotation of the cam to a predetermined position, are engaged respectively by the rolls 122 on the rear arms of the bell crank levers 108 and which establish the positions of the front side nail driver guides or nail tubes 36c on the slide 76. Similarly the periphery of the lower cam 120 has formed in it six pairs of opposite cavities 120a which are engaged respectively by the rolls 128 on the rear arms of the bell crank levers 106, said cavities controlling the operating positions of the central side nail driver guides or nail tubes 3612. In order to set the cams 118, 120 in any one of the six different operating positions upon the slide 76 the hub 116, which is secured to said cams, has secured to it an arm 134 which if desirable may be quickly and accurately set by the use of suitable calibrations (not shown).

The construction and arrangement of the levers 106, 168 and their associated cams 118, 120 respectively is such that the lower ends of the nail passages 34 of the nail driver tubes 36b may be moved into any one of three positions represented by holes B, B B of the template 71 and the lower ends of the nail passages 34 of the nail driver tubes 360 may be moved into any one of five different positions represented by the holes C, C C C and C of said template. By initially setting the arms 75 as above described in either of two operating positions on the slide 76 and by swinging the cams 118, 120 into six different operating positions on the slide, the various side nail driver guides 36a, 36b and 360 may be moved into the proper positions in which the lower ends of their nail passages 34 form a pattern corresponding to the nail hole pattern of any one of six patterns used in covering the range of shoe sizes 4D to 13B.

It will be noted that holes of the different groups A, A B, B and B and C, C C C and C are approximately in alinement respectively and that the nail driver guides 36a, 36b and 36c swing in arcuate paths on the slide 76. It will be appreciated, however, that the nail holes 34 of the driver guides 36b, 360 are swung respectively through short arcs and about centers which are parallel to and are spaced substantial distances from the axes respectively of said passages, the construction and arrangement being such that the axes of the nail passages 34 of the nail driver guides 36b and 360 will move with relation to the rear nail driver guide 36 in paths corresponding substantially to paths represented by the loci of the axes of the holes B to B and C to C In view of the foregoing it will be clear that when a shoe of a different size and different nail hole pattern is to be operated upon the operator will first swing the lever 94 to its proper position readily determined by a scale 136 associated with the recesses 100, whereby to move the slide 76 and accordingly the nail driver guides or nail tubes 36, 36a, 36b and 36c as a unit lengthwise of the guideways 74 and parallel to the fixed reference plane 58 to adjust all of the driver guides or nail tubes forward or rearward with relation to the spindle of the jack 28. The operator will then swing the back, center, and front pairs of side nail guides or nail tubes 36a, 36b and 36c to any one of their six different operating combinations toward and away from said reference plane 58 in accordance with the particular nail pattern of the heel to be accommodated.

As above stated, it has been found that by selectively setting with relation to the nail driver guide or nail tube 36, which is fixed to the slide 76, the back side nail driver guides or nail tubes 36a in either of their two operating positions on the slide and by the use of the cams 118, 120 the center side nail driver guides or nail tubes 36b and the front side nail driver guides or nail tubes 36c in any 6 one of their six positions one slide will accommodate shoe sizes 4D to 13B.

If shoes of extremely large sizes are to be accommodated the slide 76 will have secured to it a bracket (not shown) which is generally similar to the bracket 82 and to which are secured a rear nail driver guide corresponding to the guide 36 and pairs of back and center side nail driver guides corresponding to the guides 36a, 36b respectively, the lower ends of the passages 34 of said guides having an arrangement represented by holes R, A and B of the master template shown in FIG. 10. In the modified slide 76 for accommodating shoes of extremely large sizes arms corresponding to the arms 75 and journaled on the slide 76 will have nail driver guides corresponding to the nail driver guide 36 secured to them, the construction and arrangement being such that the lower ends of the passages 34 formed in the front pair of nail driver guides will assume either of two positions represented by holes 0* or C The slide 76 used for accommodating shoes of extremely large sizes may be initially adjusted lengthwise of the guideways 74 as above described to move all of the nail driver guides or nail tubes as a unit with relation to the spindle 48 of the jack 28 as above explained.

As explained in said Patent No. 3,072,913, the drivers 32 pass through slots 137 (FIGS. 5 and 6) formed in a driver holder or stripper plate 138 corresponding to the driver holder or stripper plate (244) of the machine disclosed in said application. The drivers 32 have heads 32a and pass through bores in aluminum washers 141 which may be secured to or loosely mounted on the holder, the diameters of said washers being substantially greater than the Widths of the slots 137 which are of suitable shape to enable the drivers to partake of the above-mentioned adjustment of the nail driver guides or nail tubes 36, 36a, 36b and 36c.

The slide 76, the various nail driver guides or nail tubes 36, 36a, 36b and 360 and operating mechanism therefor carried by the slide, the drivers 32 resting in the passages 34 of the nail driver guides, and the stripper plate 138, are removed as a unit from the machine when it is desired to operate upon shoes of extremely large sizes and another corresponding unit is substituted for the removed unit.

In the present construction rods 140, which support the stripper plate 138 and correspond to the rods (242) disclosed in said Patent No. 3,072,913, instead of being movable in bores of the carrier block 40 per se, which is rigidly clamped to and may be considered to be part of the gun 38, are movable in bores 142 formed in guide blocks 144. The rods 146 have threaded onto their upper ends nuts 146 and mounted on said rods and interposed between flanges 148 of the rods and the lower faces of associated guide blocks 144 are coil springs 150 which constantly urge the rods downwardly in the bores 142 until said nuts engage the upper faces of the guide blocks. The lower end of each of the rods 140 has a head 152 which forms with an associated flange 148 a notch 154 having a width slightly greater than that of the stripper plate which is provided with rod receiving recesses 139 for receiving the notched portions of the rods.

The pairs of guide blocks 144 at opposite sides of the reference plane 53 are secured by screws 156 to a bearing shaft 158 journaled in a horizontal bore 160 of the carrier block 40, the guide blocks bearing firmly against opposing faces of the carrier block. The front guide block 144 of each of the associated pairs of guide blocks carries a spring-pressed plunger 162 adapted to engage in a recess 164 (FIG. 6) of the carrier block to hold the stripper plate 138 in its operating position shown in FIGS. 1 and 5. When the guide blocks 144 are swung outwardly, the spring-pressed plungers 162 are inserted in recesses 166 (FIG. 5) respectively of the carrier to hold the guide blocks and their associated rods in inactive positions preparatory to changing the above-mentioned units 7 which as above explained comprise the composite slide, the associated drivers 32 and the stripper plate 138.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A nailing die for use in a heel attaching machine provided with a jack which has a spindle and is movable only lengthwise of an axis of said spindle and which has mechanism cooperating with a geometrically graded last to secure said last and a shoe mounted on it in a predetermined position on the jack with the heightwise median plane of the heel seat of the shoe arranged in a fixed reference plane of the machine, said nailing die comprising a rear nail driver guide, which lies in said plane, and opposite pairs of nail driver guides, associated guides of said pairs of guides being arranged at opposite sides respectively of said plane, means for initially moving all of the nail driver guides as a unit lengthwise of the shoe positioned upon the jack, and means for initially moving the associated driver guides at opposite sides of said plane toward and away from each other and toward and away from said rear nail driver guide.

2. A nailing die for use in a heel attaching machine provided with a jack which has a spindle and is movable only lengthwise of an axis of said spindle and which has mechanism adapted to cooperate with a geometric last to secure said last and a shoe mounted on it in a predetermined position on the jack with the heightwise median plane of the heel seat of the shoe arranged in a fixed reference plane of the machine, said nailing die comprising a slide movable lengthwise of the shoe positioned on the jack, a plurality of nail tubes comprising a rear tube which lies in said fixed plane and is fixedly secured to the slide, right and left pairs of side nail tubes which are arranged at opposite sides respectively of said fixed plane and are initially adjustable on the slide toward and away from said plane, means for initially moving the slide into difi'erent operating positions to move all the tubes as a unit lengthwise of the shoe with relation to the jack spindle, and means for initially moving on said slide the side nail tubes at opposite sides respectively of said plane toward and away from each other.

3. For use in a fastening-inserting machine, a nailing die comprising a carrier slidable in a rectilinear path in opposite directions, a rear nail driver guide fixed rigidly to the carrier, oppositely arranged pairs of side nail driver guides mounted for swinging movement on the carrier, means for initially moving the carrier to predetermined operating positions lengthwise of said path to vary the positions of all of the nail driver guides while maintaining the guides in the same relative positions, can means movably mounted on the carrier, and means cooperating with said cam means for setting said pairs of side driver guides in different operating positions on the carrier.

4. For use in a heel attaching machine, a nailing die comprising a slide mounted fo'r adjustment in opposite directions, a rear nail driver gui'de fixed to said slide, pairs of side nail driver guides mounted for adjustment on the slide, means for initially moving in one of said directions the slide into predetermined operating positions to vary the positions of said driver guides while maintaining said guides in the same relative positions, and means for initially swinging the guides of each of said pairs of nail driver guides into different adjusted positions toward and away from each other on the slide, said last-named means comprising cams, which are journaled on the slide, and levers which are secured respectively to said pairs of driver guides and are operatively connected to said cams.

5. For use in a heel attaching'machine, a nailing die comprising a slide initially adjustable in a rectilinear path into any one of a plurality of operating positions, a rear nail driver guide fixed to said slide, opposite pairs of side nail driver guides mounted for adjustment on said slide, means comprising a lever for initially moving the slide into different operating positions lengthwise of said path whereby to vary the operating positions of all of said nail driver guides while maintaining the same relative positions of said guides, and means for swinging into different initially adjusted positions on the slide, said opposite pairs of side driver guides toward and away from each other, said last-named means comprising opposite pairs of hell crank levers which are journaled on the slide and are fixed respectively to said pairs of side nail driver guides, open cams which are journaled on the slide, springs for operatively connecting portions of said pairs of said bell crank lever respectively to associated cams, and means comprising an arm for simultaneously moving said cams into predetermined operating positions on the slide whereby to cause said pairs of side nail driver guides to be moved into different operating positions with relation to said rear nail driver guide.

6. In a heel attaching machine, a nailing die comprising a plurality of nail driver guides having passages, drivers which have heads and are movable in the passages of the guides, a gun for delivering a series of successive impacts to the drivers, 21 driver holder in which the drivers slide freely and which serves to support during a portion of the operation of the machine the drivers by engagement with their heads, a plurality of guide blocks which have bores and are mounted for adjustment between active and inactive positions on the gun, means for securing the guide blocks in their active and inactive positions on the gun, rods which are supported by the guide blocks and are slidable in the bores of said blocks, springs for biasing the rods respectively to predetermined positions on the guide rods, and means for coupling the rods to the driver holder in response to movement of the guide blocks to their active positions on the gun and for uncoupling the rods from the driver holder in response to movement of the guide blocks to their inactive positions on the gun.

7. In a heel attaching machine, guide means, a nailing die comprising a carrier which is mounted for movement along said guide means, a rear nail driver guide fixed to the carrier, a plurality of side nail driver guides which are carried by and are mounted for adjustment into different operating positions on the carrier, means mounted on the carrier and adapted initially to move said side nail driver guides into difierent operating positions with relation to the rear nail driver guide on the carrier whereby to change the nailing pattern of the die, and means for initially moving the carrier together with the rear and side nail driver guides as an entirety into different predetermined operating positions along said guide means whereby to vary the operating position of the die,

8. In a heel attaching machine, guide means, a nailing die comprising a carrier which is slidable in opposite directions along said guide means, a rear nail tube fixed rigidly to the carrier, a plurality of side nail tubes which are carried by and are mounted for swinging movement into different operating positions on the carrier, means for initially swinging said side nail tubes simultaneously into different operating positions on the carrier with relation to the rear nail tube whereby to change the nailing pattern of the die, and means for initially moving the carrier along said guide means to a predetermined operating position in one of said directions along the guide means to vary the operating positions of all the tubes while maintaining said tubes in the same relative positions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,620,782 Pope Mar. 15, 1927 2,503,520 Standish d. Apr. 11, 1950 3,072,913 Morgan Jan. 15, 1963 

1. A NAILING DIE FOR USE IN A HEEL ATTACHING MACHINE PROVIDED WITH A JACK WHICH HAS A SPINDLE AND IS MOVABLE ONLY LENGTHWISE OF AN AXIS OF SAID SPINDLE AND WHICH HAS MECHANISM COOPERATING WITH A GEOMETRICALLY GRADED LAST TO SECURE SAID LAST AND A SHOE MOUNTED ON IT IN A PREDETERMINED POSITION ON THE JACK WITH THE HEIGHTWISE MEDIAN PLANE OF THE HEEL SEAT OF THE SHOE ARRANGED IN A FIXED REFERENCE PLANE OF THE MACHINE, SAID NAILING DIE COMPRISING A REAR NAIL DRIVER GUIDE, WHICH LIES IN SAID PLANE, AND OPPOSITE PAIRS OF NAIL DRIVER GUIDES, ASSOCIATED GUIDES OF SAID PAIRS OF GUIDES BEING ARRANGED AT OPPOSITE SIDES RESPECTIVELY OF SAID PLANE, MEANS FOR INITIALLY MOVING ALL OF THE NAIL DRIVER GUIDES AS A UNIT LENGTHWISE OF THE SHOE POSITIONED UPON THE JACK, AND MEANS FOR INITIALLY MOVING THE ASSOCIATED DRIVER GUIDES AT OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID PLANE TOWARD AND AWAY FROM EACH OTHER AND TOWARD AND AWAY FROM SAID REAR NAIL DRIVER GUIDE. 